Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt – Reading Eleven: Enemy at the Gates

So far on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…

Delinquent Liss Decker found herself caught between combatants from a strange alternate world called the Sphere, and afterward found herself with the ability to transform into Tarock, a warrior of awesome powers. Tarock's creator, a mystical immortal being called an Arancum, asked Liss to become a champion for his people, who were being plagued by the reappearance of monstrous beings they call the Mythos. Mainly seeing an escape from her oppressive everyday life, Liss agreed.

But as she battled the Mythos and searched for the special cards that were the keys to unlocking each of Tarock's special powers, Liss found her self-righteousness shaken by the gratitude of the beleaguered people of the Sphere. After being wounded by a giant Mythos, Liss was forced to travel to the city of Mazones to recover. Home to the Arcana most convinced that Tarock is a danger to them, Liss was eager to escape as soon as she'd recovered. However she found an unlikely friend in Rexia, a girl eager to escape the monotony of constantly having to hide in her home because of Mythos attacks.

Just as Liss announced her intention to leave to Rexia, it came under attack by a huge Cyclops Mythos, and Liss prepares to reveal her secret to her new friend…

Author's Note: There was no fighting last chapter, but there's a whole lot in this one, kinda to make up for it I guess. :3 This is also the end of the first arc, and there's a fair bit that happens.

The doors to Thena's chambers rattled on their hinges as another tremor ran throughout the city. She finished buckling on her armor with all the efficiency centuries of practice and supernatural speed could provide.

The doors flew open and suddenly and Thena rushed to don her helmet. "My lady!" a serving maiden called. "A Mythos is at the gates and no one can find Empress Maeve!"

"Important business has taken her out of Mazones," Thena replied right before another shock ran through, and her mirror split down the middle. It was just as well. "But I am on my way." She ran to the window and took a flying leap over the rooftops.

It felt like the entire world was being shaken apart.

The Mythos was pounding on the wall with his bone club and wrecking ball-like fist while Liss watched from what at the moment was a safe distance, but in under a minute he'd have smashed a hole wide enough to push through the city wall. Rexia grabbed Liss's arm and tried to pull her back inside, but Liss dug her feet in. If she let Rexia pull her inside to whatever safety that might promise, she'd miss it when Shift Runner appeared.

If that would even be in time…

"Liss!" Rexia screamed. "What do you think you can possibly do against that?!" She pulled harder but Liss was stronger and easily pulled away.

Liss looked over her shoulder at Rexia. "That's the kind of thinking that's keeping you dependent on the Arcana!" she said.

Rexia covered her face with her hands and retreated to the doorway of her home. "You're out of your mind!"

"Or maybe I'm the only one thinking the situation through!" Liss screamed back.

The bolts from the city guards' weapons that had been peppering the huge gray-skinned Cyclops had ceased; they'd no doubt been wiped out by his powerful blows. But a white streak came arcing over Liss's head and landed on the city wall next to the whole the Cyclops was making with his club. There was a flash of white light and the Cyclops fell on his back. The flash solidified into a person standing on the wall, and even from where Liss stood that black and gold armor, with the weird winged helmet and two short swords held in a reverse grip looked awfully familiar.

Thena, the first Arcanum she'd ever met. Who'd kicked her tail but good. But that had been before, when she'd only had one set of tricks, and she'd been weak still from having her blood sucked by that Vampire Mythos. Now Liss had all the cards, and hadn't lost any blood recently. This time when Thena aimed those swords at her, she'd be ready. This time, she'd…she'd…

She'd what? Beat the crap out of Thena to get even? And prove everything the people about this city thought about Tarock being a psychopath was true? Liss glanced over her shoulder and Rexia still sat huddled in her open doorway. Why didn't she just retreat to whatever safety barring her door would provide? The same safety she'd been trying to share with Liss.

Cyclops got halfway up, his head just visible through the breach in the wall. Thena readied her weapons to attack again, when suddenly she froze in place. The Cyclops swept his arm and knocked Thena off her feet, and didn't see the silvery shape that had jumped through the hole he'd punched in the wall. As soon as it landed she could see it was a metallic horse. In ten seconds it had cleared the distance and stopped short in front of her.

Shift Runner had heard her call.

Liss dug into his saddle bag and was relived to find her Fate Driver right where she'd left it. It locked around her waist and then she hauled herself into Shift Runner's saddle. She gave Rexia a small smile. "Looks you can see that little advantage I was talking about in action," she said. Then Shift Runner turned and galloped back toward the wall as the Cyclops stepped into Mazones itself.

"Let's get to work," Liss whispered, and loaded the Driver.

"Swords Suit!" it proclaimed and a red card drifted down over her and Shift Runner as it ran, forming thick red armor and filling her body with an incredible strength she'd almost forgotten. In a heartbeat Skycalibur, her awesome sword, was in her hand again. Shift Runner launched them at the Cyclops.

Concentrating as much strength as she could into her attack, Tarock called out, "Woe! Bladestorm!" She swept her sword in front of her and a wave of glowing swords shot out and peppered Cyclops's body. He roared out in pain and shrank back a step before Shift Runner crashed into his chest and knocked the monster back.

Cyclops recovered quickly and smashed his club down, but Shift Runner jumped aside just in time. Tarock locked the Rend Brace around her wrist and again concentrated all her energy into her next attack. "Calamity! Thunder Lash!" Pain wracked her body but the electrical coil was twice as long as she'd ever managed. She cracked it at Cyclops and sliced a black wound that barely missed his giant eye. She started to swing again but found herself looking straight at Cyclops's eye…and suddenly couldn't move.

That enormous bone swept out of nowhere and knocked her off Shift Runner and flying through the air. Tarock only came to a stop after crashing through the back wall of a house. She heard a chorus of surprised screams but staggered to her feet and back outside as fast as she could.

Ven and Donis swooped around and around trying to catch up to the flying Mythos as he nimbly wove, spun and dived through the air with an agility they'd never seen. Before they could stop him he pumped his wings and sent a whirling column of air forward that tore a block of houses to pieces.

"Ven Split!" Ven's bracelet said, and then there were three of her. They flew at the Mythos, each from a different side, but he spun with his wings spread wide and knocked them aside. As he stopped Donis suddenly flew up from behind and jabbed him behind one wing with a hard glowing fist.

The Mythos cried out and his wing went rigid then limp before he fell from the sky. Donis flew after him to finish the job but the Mythos turned in midair so his bird-like talons were below him then vaulted off the edge of a house and caught Donis on the chin with a swipe of the wing that'd been numbed.

As the Mythos pumped his wings and rose higher, he tweaked his foot-long nose at Donis in mockery.

Painfully, Thena scraped herself off the ground where she'd landed. Cyclops had turned back to the houses and his eye shimmered just before a blinding ray shot out and vaporized a low dwelling. Seeing her get to her feet and bring up her swords to fight, Cyclops swung his bone club and Thena knew she had to act.

"Grasp of Justice!" She held out her hand which turned ghostly transparent and grew large enough to grab the end of the bone and keep Cyclops from smashing it down on his target. He started to turn his giant head to face her, his massive eye already starting to glow with the energy of another blast. Thena hurled one of her short swords at the monster's eye. It was like a hornet's sting against something so big, but the blade lodged into the mottled gray skin right next to Cyclops's eye and he gave a roar of pain and looked away.

But Cyclops gave a mighty pull on his club and wrenched Thena off her feet, sending her tumbling end over end into the air.

Then suddenly she slammed into something and realized it wasn't the ground. Thena looked and saw she was lying across the saddle of a metal horse. It landed with a bump but far less hard than the one she would've made if she'd crashed into the ground. She jumped down, then stopped suddenly as she felt a great power nearby that wasn't the Mythos. Worse, a familiar power.

"Tarock! Show yourself!" Thena yelled. Tarock did indeed appear a second later, dashing around a corner but holding her sword low as if not expecting to need it. "You dare sneak into our city now! I'll obliterate you the same way I'll obliterate that monster!" Both hands clenched and raised Tarock's blade at that. "You're not worthy to wield that sword!" Thena screamed, clenching her own weapons

Thena ran with all her speed at Tarock, who suddenly swept her sword through the air. "Woe! Bladestorm!" To Thena's shock, the rain of swords exploded against the ground between them and didn't come flying straight at her. Thena jumped to her right to avoid them. She raised her swords to defend herself but Tarock was running right past her, and jumped into the saddle of the horse.

"Thanks for finding him for me!" Tarock called, an unmistakable taint of snide in the words, but the way she lingered a few seconds before wheeling the horse around and charging off to where Cyclops was rampaging made Thena wonder if that was all there was.

Thena jumped in the farthest arc she could manage after Tarock, landing on top of a house where she could see Tarock charging the Cyclops Mythos even as he knocked the roof off a house with his club and then obliterated the rest in a fiery flash from his eye beam. Tarock's horse vaulted off some fallen debris, and at the top of his jump Tarock herself jumped, then brandished her sword. "Dire Fate! Final Ascend!" The blade stabbed down into Cyclops's chest and a tornado ripped downward from the tip and started to chew away at his mottled flesh, exposing bubbling blue ichor.

The tornado grew and pushed Tarock away from Cyclops while it tore the hole in his torso larger. The very air tremored with his cry of rage as he swiped his club at her, but even as his attack missed the soles of her boots by inches, Cyclops cried out again, this time in pain.

"LIBRA KICK!" Thena slammed into the monster's spine with her foot, her entire body burning with silvery fire as she mustered every bit of her power. Cyclops staggered forward then fell flat on his stomach. Her sword that was lodged in his face was jarred loose and went spinning through the air, into Thena's empty hand.

"AVENGER'S STRIKE!" Her swords erupted with silver light as Cyclops got to his knees. She launched herself at the wound Tarock had made and plunged her short blades into it. Energy erupted in small bursts all over Cyclops's arms and torso and blue ichor started to bleed from those wounds as well. He toppled over backward and landed with a heavy crash.

She panted hard, having thrown nearly everything she'd had into those attacks. The Mythos twitched a few times and the blue ooze from its wounds started to turn into smoke as always happened when these creatures died.

Then suddenly Cyclops screamed again and sat up. With a swing of his giant arm he knocked Thena off him and brought his bone club down on where she lay.

A voice cut the air. "Cups Suit!" Then suddenly a huge block of ice formed around Cyclops's feet before a stream of water tore the club from his hand. He smashed at the ice with his fists and in a second was free again.

It seemed to take ages as Thena's eyes focused enough for her to spot Tarock, but now in light yellow armor and the blade on her wrist glowing blue before a transparent blade leaped from the tip and slashed into the Mythos's chest at an angle.

Before he recovered Tarock raised her left hand and formed a horizontal bar of ice between two houses. She jumped and caught it with her hands then swung her legs and spun one, two complete revolutions before letting go and somersaulting through the air before another beam ripped from Cyclops's eye and tore the walls off the houses she'd been between. Tarock splayed for a second with the energy she'd built up, forming an x-shape with her body, then launched a jump kick at Cyclops. "Dire Fate! Depth Pressure Kick!" Her body flared with energy and her kick exploded when it hit Cyclops's gaping wound. The monster flew back and smashed into the city wall.

Blue smoke rose from the Mythos's fallen body, and this time he didn't get up again before completely disintegrating. Then snatched up her swords and stood up to face Tarock, ready to continue the fight. Tarock faced her for a long second, but turned away. Not running to her horse to make her getaway, but down the street before disappearing around a corner. Thena followed rapidly but stealthily to see what Tarock was after and have an idea of the scope of her plans after managing to infiltrate Mazones.

But after a few turns, Tarock suddenly stopped outside an unremarkable house. The front door hung open, and sitting curled into a ball just next to the stairs leading to it was a teenage girl with bright orange hair. Tarock stood a safe distance away, hands by her sides and no trace of powers charging for an attack that Thena could sense.

"Rexi," Tarock said quietly. "Are you-"

"Don't come near me," the girl whispered, looking up at her with red-rimmed eyes. "I should've known. Speaking out against the Arcana, never saying anything concrete about yourself or where your came from, your little 'advantage', even having me be your extra set of eyes when you played that game… what was I expecting?" She looked away.

Tarock reached out with one hand, but slowly, plaintively. Not the one she wore her weaponized gauntlet on. The girl looked up at her again and held up her own hand straight up to stop Tarock, then looked away. "Don't, Liss. I don't want to hear it. All that time we spent helping you recover, this is what it was for."

"I'm not like they tell you," Tarock said. The girl didn't respond. Above them came a bursting sound, and Tarock and Thena both looked up Ven and Donis hovering around a quickly clearing cloud of blue smoke. They'd obviously dealt with their foe.

Tarock turned away from the girl. "I'll see you again, Rexi."

"Don't count on it." Thena was surprised not to hear those words coming out of her own mouth, but the girl's. Tarock bolted, and Thena pursued her as she ran to the city wall. Tarock jumped on her horse's back, and it galloped straight for the hole in the wall left by Cyclops's forced entry.

Thena took a running jump and landed on the smashed masonry before Tarock could pass through. "You're not going anywhere!" she cried, but Tarock didn't slow down. "Avenger's Strikes!" Thena called, charging her blades and swinging them to fire arcs of power at Tarock. Again the blade on her wrist glowed blue before a blade of energy flashed from the tip and knocked Thena's shots away, then the horse launched itself over the wall, within inches of Thena, landed on the other side and galloped away. Once they were a few hundred yards from the edge of Mazones they shimmered and disappeared.

Thena panted from the powerful attacks she'd been using in the last battle. Was she that out of condition? At least the Mythos had been repelled, even if it had been with help from…her. Ven and Donis flew down and hovered beside her, looking over the wall just as Thena was.

"Dame Thena, where did Tarock go?" Ven asked, her black armor slightly battered. "Perhaps we can still catch her."

But Thena waved off the suggestion. "She's gone back to her own world, and we've problems enough already."

"Yes, like how Tarock was able to enter Mazones undetected," Donis said, in more measured tones than his partner. "What was she planning?"

What indeed? Thena's thoughts lingered on those few instants where Tarock had been right next to her during that jump over the wall, and she'd surely had a chance to smash Thena into oblivion. Why hadn't Tarock taken it? And why hadn't Thena hit Tarock either while she was close enough to smell the intruder's breath?

But perhaps more than that, wasn't the timing rather convenient, that a pair of powerful monsters would attack Mazones while its ruler and the mightiest of its defenders was gone?

Thena sighed. "I don't know, but we're going to catch hell when the empress returns, whatever it was…"

As she looked out over the mountain in the distance, Thena swore she could she a black, bat-like shaping flying past with someone in a flapping black cloak atop it. Then it was gone.

The sun was beginning to dip behind the slant of the mountain by the time Empress Maeve caught sight of her destination. She could be nearly anywhere in the Sphere in less than an hour, but without making a full journey she knew she could expect no help from the one she was seeking.

This one, there was no point in trying to hide anything from her. And even with the difficulty she had penetrating the mysteries of the Mythos with her powers, Maeve needed any lead this Arcanum could provide her.

The empress wore none of her usually finery. Simple black shirt and pants with thick leather boots, and a plain haversack on her back to carry her offering.

It had once been a grand ivory temple with doric columns marking the front, the design taken from some inhabitants of the other world gifted with aesthetically pleasing ideas. The front arch above the columns was decorated by a tarnished carving of a flame. Once it had inlaid with gold, but now it was caked with dust.

Powers above, how long had it been?

Maeve strode purposefully through the doors into the main room. It was lit only by a tall brazier glowing with a blue flame by a battered stone chair in the back of the lone room. Behind it hung a curtain through which were the keeper's personal chambers, but on the throne was the keeper herself. Once she'd been breathtakingly beautiful, but she looked even more drained than the last time Maeve had seen her. Her blue and white robes were fine but faded, her headdress with a reflective disc between two curved horns was in need of a thorough polish. One thing about her had never changed, though, and that was the bright alertness of her eyes.

"You are troubled, Maeve," the woman said quietly, more as a greeting than an observation.

Maeve nodded. "And surely you know what brings me to your retreat, Phythia."

"It is at once puzzling and unsettling," Phythia said, distantly. "In times as dark as these people would seem to want answers all the more. But as times grow darker all that seems to matter is a desire to survive to see one more sunrise."

Slowly Maeve took off her pack and pulled out a faintly glowing yellow Ora Stone. "I have brought an offering for your flame, a stone touched by my power." She threw it into the brazier and the flame grew brighter. "When this is over, we'll restore the roads to the temple, I promise. It will be magnificent again."

"You look, but you do not see," Phythia reprimanded her. "Should splendor or guidance be what is sought within these walls? But since you've come looking for guidance, that is what I will provide. What answers do you seek, Empress of Mazones?"

"What other answers could I possibly seek?" Maeve almost screamed, in no mood for being led by a seer speaking in riddles. "Where are my enemies, what do I have to do to protect my people as the Mythos climb my walls while I'm here discussing this?"

Phythia ignored the harshness of Maeve's questions, but that was exactly what Maeve had expected. In both of Phythia's palms erupted a ball of the same blue flame from the brazier, and then her eyes glowed with the same bright blue. "Your enemies are right before your eyes, but their sources are confused. One seeks the doom of us all, the other is a powerful, if unpredictable force of their own."

Maeve scowled "That had better not be all, seer. I warn you…"

Phythia continued to look away, her body contorting as it was wracked with the intense power it took to see even this deeply . "The worst is coming, empress, and I would advise that you look for those willing to stand with you, instead of looking for threats lurking in every shadow.

"Also…I see a single lost soul. She is innocent, but she is the source of the darkness engulfing our world and spreading to the world beyond ours. If she can be found, rescued, before the rulers of the Mythos, we may yet avert the greatest darkness. But to search the entire Sphere for a single person with so many Mythos wandering about…it can only be possible if every ally to be found is enjoined." The light went out of Phythia's eyes, and she slumped back against her chair. Her vision was over.

Maeve sighed and shook her head. Who dared travel the Sphere without some kind of protection since the Mythos reappeared? A lead to the cause of the outbreak was welcome, of course, but finding one person on an entire world was impossible, even if she could marshal the forces of the few Arcana allied to her.

Perhaps it was time to discuss relations between her people and Solymen's again. Harsh words had passed between her and the emperor once, but they could overlook something like that in the name of their people's survival, couldn't they?

"I'll speak with the emperor once I've returned," Maeve said. "Hopefully between the two of us we can find this lost soul."

Phythia looked up, seeming even more drained than before. Still, she tossed something to Maeve. "It will take more than the handful of Arcana you can muster between the two of you."

"You suggest I risk my people in the search for this lost soul you speak of?" Maeve demanded. "Only a few are soldiers, never mind explorers. Phythia, perhaps you don't understand this, but my people expect me to act in their best interests. Are you seriously asking that I send them outside Mazones and make them easy prey for the monsters out there?"

"I ask nothing, empress," Phythia said placidly. "I simply advise those dedicated enough to ask for it."

As soon as the void between Earth and the Sphere was behind her and she could see familiar buildings, a thought from Tarock turned Shift Runner into a racing bike again and she'd blasted halfway across town, jumped an old fence and stopped under a bridge before she was sure nobody had followed. She sighed and released her armor, then stowed the Fate Driver in her coat.

Liss slumped against the wall. That…absolutely sucked. The time she'd spent recovering with Rexia's help, she hadn't felt anything like that in a long time. Rexia had even started to appreciate Liss inviting her to do something a little wild with her when she'd hardly left the house since the Mythos attacks started again.

But then, Liss showed off her powers and it was all over. Changing into Tarock in a city where everyone hated that name might not have been the smartest thing to do, but she was supposed to reversing that image. And Liss wasn't about to back down from a Mythos anyway.

But about her rep, how long had it been since the first Tarock had killed that one Arcanum? Why did they assume he was totally evil and hadn't had any other reason to do it? It seemed kind of weird to her she'd heard plenty about the sins of the original Tarock, but nothing about the Arcanum he'd killed. There had to be more to it…

But first, there were a few people she should probably tell she was alive after a few weeks away.

She rode past her older sister's garage, but as Liss had expected from the setting sun the place was closed already. The lights were also out at Paige's place and no one answered when she knocked. Sighing, Liss got back onto Shift Runner and rode to the only other place she could think of to go. A few minutes later she was knocking loudly on the back door of Angelo's Dragon Academy.

A while passed and nothing happened, and Liss started thinking of places she could crash and start looking for Paige in the morning. Her phone was dead and she didn't have the money for a motel room. Maybe for something off Sandy Burger's dollar menu, though. Her stomach growled at her, and she wondered if those other superheroes had nights like this.

Then a window creaked open on the second floor and Liss looked up into the double barrels of a familiar sawed off shotgun. "Who's down there?" barked a harsh male voice.

"It's me, sensei. Liss."

Angelo Bell looked down at her and his expression turned into what looked like a slight smile in the fading light. "So you're still alive."

Liss scratched the back of her neck. "You didn't really catch me when I was ready for a fight, last time."

"If you're entering into danger you need to be ready for a fight all the time," he reprimanded her.

"I was still tired from my last fight," Liss protested, and sighed. She looked up and met Angelo's eyes. "And that's why I need your help."

He nodded. "Why don't you come up and we'll talk about it?"

"Because the door's locked," Liss answered.

"So?"

She laughed. "We're starting already, huh?"

Angelo leaned back inside and as soon as he was out of sight Liss had a thin piece of wire in her hand. She heard the click of the first lock after thirty-two seconds of tinkering, and the second even quicker than that. Half of a cut-up credit card pried open the tongue on the latch. The door went taut against its chain lock but a deft flick of the wrist with a pair of needlenose pliers the bolt slipped from the housing.

He was sitting in his small living room waiting for Liss when she got to the top of the stairs, sitting beside a low table with a teapot on it and sipping from a small teacup with no handle. "So," he said. "You've been gone forever."

"I guess even I need a while to bounce back from getting hurt pretty bad," Liss answered. She sat down opposite him and sipped from another small cup. It was a weak flavor she couldn't name, but for a minute she just savored the warmth and the smell of the steam from the pot.

It was nice to be home.

"So…everything been okay while I was gone? My sister didn't move or anything, that you know of?" Liss asked.

"Not that I know of," Angelo said. "She and I aren't exactly close or anything, though."

"Yeah," Liss said and filled her cup again. "Things okay, besides that? Any crimes? Any monsters?"

"Couple monsters, yeah. Nothing we couldn't handle," he said casually.

Liss let a moment pass. "I'm not shitting you about monsters."

"Would I shit you about monsters?" Angelo said, calm as before. "I saw you and those two guys in the suits of armor. 'Sides, we did have a couple monsters show up when you were gone. One of those snake-hair ladies, and some kinda thing was kind of like a monkey but it had lizard scales and a white Mohawk."

She shook her head. "Nothing you couldn't handle, huh?"

"I didn't say it was me," he pointed out. "Not that I couldn't handle myself if I got the chance. But that weird guy, the Robin Hood-looking one, he said he knew you, and he needed someone who could fight monsters the way you could. So he picked one."

Liss set her cup down hard. "What? Who?"

"I don't know," Angelo shrugged. "They went to that other planet of yours and only showed up after a monster did."

So much had happened while she was recovering. But right then, all she wanted was the chance to spend the night someplace that was safely familiar. Tiredly, Liss shook her head. "Sensei, can I crash on your floor tonight, and maybe we can talk tomorrow?"

"Absolutely not," he said. "There's a perfectly good couch over there nobody's using. Need a blanket?"

Liss shook her head and just slumped down on the couch, duster, shoes and gloves still on. Angelo poured out the teapot, shut off the lights and closed the door behind him. She was starting to drift off already, even as she felt the Fate Driver pushing against her side. Everything had started because of that little trinket. All those powerful, angry beings wanted to kill her or worse because she owned it, had gathered its power. Because she'd worn it into battle, she was obviously following the same agenda as the first one who'd worn it centuries ago.

If only she'd run away, forgotten all about that fight she'd seen with the giant spider, nobody from the Sphere would know about her, care about her at all.

But then again, what if the spider Mythos had stuck around and eaten half the town before going back to the Sphere? What if it had reported back to the White Lady that there was something interesting outside the Sphere besides a new Tarock?

The White Lady. As soon as Liss caught her breath, that was who she needed to find. Then she could count on getting some answers. But what would they be, and what would she do with them…

Maybe it was because she'd been thinking of the White Lady as she fell asleep, but Liss had another dream like that one before she'd first woken up in Rexia's house.

It was night and the only light came from the fires of the ruined buildings that had yet to finish burning completely. Black shapes of Mythos she couldn't identify closed in around Liss, reaching out and clawing the air in her direction. But this time the Fate Driver was locked firmly around her waist, waiting for her to load it so she could launch herself into battle against them.

A mocking voice rang in Liss's ears, the one she remembered from her last dream. "You think you have power, little girl? Look at what you've pitted yourself against. Kill one, kill ten, kill fifty. There will be more. Your strength will dwindle. Your body will fail. Your world will be consumed."

"If I do it your way," Liss said. "If I just jump in there and start punching, and don't use my head at all. But I haven't been doing things the way other people want for a while."

The answer was a soft, confident little laugh. "Those were the soft punishments, you silly child." Then feeling of cold from a nearby Mythos shot up Liss's arm, but it was so deep, so sharp this time she sank to her knees and cried out in pain. The swarm of monsters around Liss screeched and closed in, tearing and clawing as they crowded so closely the sky was blotted out entirely.

"Give some people a sip of power and they think they can reshape the world…" the White Lady's voice said tauntingly.

Liss shook herself awake, flinching still from the dream. She was about to turn over and go back to sleep when she noticed the cold on her arm was still there; a monster was close, a real one.

After the second stair her head was clear and she whipped out the back door, looking and listening for any sign of something evil nearby.

And then she saw it. The outline of a giant bat-like shape as it came to rest lightly on top of a building near the end of the block. Liss slipped into the street and jogged quietly over to the building where she'd seen the thing land. Finally she saw the thing, wings folded and perched on the edge of the building while sweeping a long, sloping neck back and forth as it kept watch.

She clung to the shadows while she watched what was going on. Another shape appeared, one with a cape tossed lightly on the chill night wind. The feeling of cold on Liss's arm rose and lingered while she watched. A minute later a tall, spindly figure with a giant round head melted out of the shadows and scaled the edge of the building with spider-like grace.

The sounds of a whispered conversation reached Liss's ears, but nothing she could make out from her hiding place across the street. She was about to transform, jump over and force some answers out of them, when suddenly the two turned her way and the cold feeling on Liss's arm seemed to burn.

It was as bad as when she'd seen Lost, but Liss clenched her teeth and grabbed into her coat for the Fate Driver. The Mythos in the cape jumped onto the strange flying creature's back and it spread its wings before jumping off the edge of the building and flying away. The other crouched and jumped all the way to the alley where Liss had been hiding, despite his impossibly thin legs. He grabbed for her neck and wrapped bony fingers around it, but Liss jammed a card into her Driver.

"Wands Suit!" it roared. The translucent blue card passed down Liss's body and shook the monster off. In the burst of light as her armor solidified and the sensation of speed filled her limbs she could make out the features of a jagged-toothed jack o' lantern on his face. A floppy wide-brimmed hat sat on his head and his hands were gnarled and plant-like.

A Scarecrow Mythos.

He spun back with his momentum and suddenly whipped around clutching a gleaming scythe that whistled toward Tarock's neck. She raised her wand to block it and metal shrieked against metal. Scarecrow turned and swiped at her legs with blinding speed but Tarock jumped and somersaulted in the air to avoid it, then landed and aimed her wand at his face.

"Calamity! Dragon's Maw!" A jet of blue fire shot from the tip of the wand and swept over Scarecrow. He fell back, his ragged clothes aflame, but crouched and jumped back with incredible speed and the rushing air putting out the fires on his body. He landed on a rooftop and with her heightened sight Tarock could see his mouth turn up into a mocking smile. But then he turned and jumped away in the opposite direction.

Well, if he wanted a chase, he'd get a hell of a chase. "Mag Step," Tarock whispered, and the world turned blue and hazy as she ran after Scarecrow. He was frozen in the middle of a jump over a street, and Tarock jumped and kicked him back down as she let her speed fade. Scarecrow rolled with the impact and landed back on his feet.

Tarock extended her wand into a full staff and ran after her enemy. This monster seemed more than his thin form indicated, and she needed to save her strength until she figured out just what his limits were.

Scarecrow swiped his scythe at Tarock and a whirling energy blade shot from the tip. Tarock knocked it away with her staff and jumped, somersaulted and landed behind him. Before he could retaliate she concentrated and her Mag Step power flared again, seeming to freeze Scarecrow in place. She kicked rapidly at his back before her body started to ache and she had to let things to return to normal speed.

The monster went flying but again rolled with it as he hit the ground and ended in a crouch onto his feet. Tarock ran to close the distance and attack again, trying to ignore the exhaustion she was already feeling. Mag Step was an incredibly potent power but it was one she was going to have to learn to use sparingly.

He slashed with his scythe at Tarock's head but she ducked under it and kicked Scarecrow as hard as she could in the chest. Scarecrow went sprawling but as he went down he grabbed Tarock's ankle with one gnarled hand. She jerked her leg backk and his hand snapped off, but all of a sudden the fingers started to grown and wrap around Tarock, binding her legs together. She tried to ignore her fatigue already and use Mag Step to stop Scarecrow's hand from growing enough to pin her arms too, but she was still too weak from all the power she'd used in her fight with Cyclops and time didn't slow. Second later Tarock's entire body was covered by thick vines.

Scarecrow grinned as he hefted his scythe, another hand sprouting to replace the one that entwined her. He walked over slowly, letting her dwell on her impending doom a few seconds more. When he was still a few steps away, a voice rang out.

"CHANGE, VAGA!" Both Tarock and Scarecrow looked over to see someone standing a good fifty feet off, fist held in front of his face so his features were hard to make out. But on that wrist he wore a metal bracelet with a dull green stone set in it, and in his other hand he held a card of a man in medieval garb carrying a hobo stick on it. The card flashed and disappeared, and the green stone glowed with power.

The air around him rippled with green light that solidified into green armor around his body with white lines running down the arms and legs, and forming a large V on the left side of his chest. His gauntlets and boots were black metal while the round eyes staring out from his featureless mask were yellow like Tarock's. A thin white spine bent backwards was affixed to each side of his mask, and another stuck up from the middle of his forehead above a small yellow gem, same bright shade as the round gem in his belt buckle. And tossed over one shoulder was a thin white scarf.

In a firm, strong voice he commanded. "Step away, freak. This world's under the protection of Vaga."

Scarecrow sprang at this newcomer and slashed again and again with his scythe. Vaga danced away from one wild slash after another then reached out suddenly and grabbed the long shaft of Scarecrow's weapon. They pulled back and forth for possession for a few seconds when Vaga lashed out with a kick at Scarecrow's midsection. It connected but Scarecrow hardly budged. The eyes in his jack o' lantern face lit up and he spewed a fireball at Vaga.

Vaga gasped in surprise and caught the fireball full on his chest. He let go of the scythe and went down. Scarecrow jumped forward to finish the job but suddenly Vaga's bracelet said, "Vaga Warder."

Suddenly he was holding a short gray rod of what looked like wood but with a slight metallic sheen, about two feet long and engraved with weird designs. He jabbed Scarecrow in the stomach with it. The monster growled and grabbed at Vaga with his spindly fingers but Vaga jumped backward and landed on top of a three-story building. Scarecrow jumped after him and Vaga took another powerful jump and in a second they were both out of sight.

Alone for the moment, Tarock stretched out with her fingers and managed to grasp the end of her wand. Grimly, she pointed it at herself and gathered her strength.

A second fireball exploded behind Vaga, far enough away that he could only feel a short sensation of heat on his back. He turned and watched as Scarecrow came flying at him then darted back and let the monster's scythe splinter the ground where he'd stood.

Scarecrow swiped his gleaming weapon and again a whirling blade of power shot forth. Gripping his Warder in both hands, Vaga deflected it into the air then charged Scarecrow and stabbed the monster as hard as he could. This made Scarecrow exhale a cloud of flames in pain and before he could recover Vaga swung his weapon again and sent the scythe spinning from Scarecrow's hands.

Disarmed, Scarecrow's jagged mouth turned down in dismay. Suddenly he reached out and his arms stretched far enough to grab Vaga's arms, and dragged him closer. Vaga struggled and battered at Scarecrow's arms with his Warder, but the monster just grinned while a fire started to glow behind his eyes and mouth. He spat a fireball at Vaga who screamed in pain as it exploded against his chest…

…but then Vaga's bracelet called, "Vaga Lancer!" The shining blue tip of a spear mounted on an ornately carved haft shot out of the cloud of fire from Scarecrow's attack and impaled him. Vaga lifted the monster over his head, and slammed him against the ground. Scarecrow bounced a couple times before coming to a stop, but Vaga ran after him and stabbed his spear at Scarecrow's head.

The tip entered one eye, and Scarecrow's mouth contorted in a silent scream as Vaga pulled hard and tore out the side of the monster's head. Pumpkin bits littered the ground and Scarecrow reached up to touch his horrible injury with fumbling fingers. "Time to finish this," Vaga whispered and ran to attack again. As Vaga was about to impale Scarecrow suddenly a gout of flame shot from Scarecrow's head and flew between the two. It shaped itself into a bat and flew at Vaga again who slashed it through with his spear, making it disappear, but a fiery creature like a spider jumped at him. Then a flaming wolf lunged at Vaga and knocked him down; a swarm of wasps flew by and left a series of fiery stings on the side of his mask; a lizard the size of a dog bit at his legs.

But Vaga flung the wolf off, grabbed his weapon and stabbed clear through the wolf. He kicked the lizard off his leg, jumped and stomped down on it and exploded the strange creature. The wasps flew by for another pass and as they came close enough Vaga spun the Lancer like a rotor and smashed them out of existence.

He turned back to their source, and saw Scarecrow clawing at his head until the top was

completely gone and all that was left was a raging fire atop his shoulders. More monsters were forming out of the flames, and if Vaga didn't act fast he'd be overwhelmed. "Vaga Bowgun," the bracelet said and his weapon changed again, flashing into a new shape, a rod with a gun-like grip in his hand.

Suddenly something screamed behind Vaga and he whirled around to see one of the fire creatures about to grab him before something sliced through it. The fire monster shrieked low as it disappeared, and standing behind it with staff in hand and armor blackened and scorched, was Tarock.

"Thanks," Vaga said, his tone that of someone smiling smugly, "Now check this out."

He turned to Scarecrow and his bracelet said, "Heartseeker." The Bowgun glowed white for a second before a glistening arrow shot from it and went straight through Scarecrow's heart. The monster's body twitched for a few seconds before it disintegrated into plumes of blue smoke, leaving no trace of him or his fiery creations.

A moment passed before Tarock looked over at Vaga. "Who are you?" she demanded.

He stepped back and his armor flickered away, leaving Tarock looking into the smirking face of Ben Corland, her obnoxious ex-boyfriend. "Been a while, hasn't it, Liss?" he asked.

The air seemed to stretch for a second and then Jack was standing behind him, hobo stick over one shoulder and everything. But something about the Arcanum was different. His face seemed sallow and with more wrinkles than Liss remembered. His clothes less vibrant in their patchwork of colors, and the mysterious twinkle in his eyes less bright.

"Indeed she has," Jack said, smiling slightly. "Our envoy lives. Perhaps things are not so grim as we were afraid."

Tarock said nothing. Plenty had happened without her after all, and it looked like it was going to come all at once.

End Book One

From Book Two…

Jack: The Mythos have gotten even bolder. There are more of them all the time and each one's stronger than the last.

(Lost flees into an underground tunnel to hide as a puddle of black slime outside starts to form into a new Mythos monster)

Liss: Sounds like we're gonna all the help we can get.

(A figure in a black hood and cloak, with a wooden staff tipped with a blue gem rides on the back of a red pterodactyl-like monster)

Shardak: That we will, my child, that we will. But I may know where to find the beginnings of a revolution…

(A man in a suit reports to an office, then shimmers into a faceless Mythos grunt)

Ben: Who needs a revolution? Let's just find who's giving the orders.

(Tarock in her Swords Form taps a fixture on her belt and another woman in red armor wielding a sword appears)

Jack: laugh If only it were that simple, child.

(Another Rider wearing black armor and cape wields a long scythe-like blade on their arm)

Ben: Then what is the plan?

(Tarock, Vaga, Ven, Donis and the black-clad Rider face down a twenty-foot fall manticore)

Liss: The plan's to be ready for anything.

Narrator: Your fate is in your hands.

Author's Note: Well, that was a pretty big chapter. Hope it wasn't too overwhelming, though. The stakes are definitely getting bigger and more personal for everyone involved.

Since it was so obvious, Tarock's fight with the Cyclops (fighting in her water-based form, spinning on a bar to build up power for a Rider Kick, how the Cyclops looked, etc.) is based on Kamen Rider X's fight with a Cyclops kaijin. The other monster was a Tengu, although I had to reach a little to find something they'd do in a direct fight with other people with special powers.

And if you really think about the descriptions of the monsters Angelo said attacked her town while Liss was gone, they might sound a little like commander-level bad guys from a real Kamen Rider show. Not too hard, but since I just pointed out the last one, why tell everything? :3

As for Vaga's name, his powers are based on the card that represents someone setting out on a journey to find wisdom. That sounded like a "vagabond" to me, and as soon as I had that thought the name was stuck in my head. And I think it fits the direction I have in mind for the character, whether he knows it himself or not right now.

But, big things are on the horizon. Hope you've enjoyed them so far and enjoy what's to come.